Want to know more about DNA, DNA replication, and mutations?Here are few videos that I thought might be helpful.Seeing a 3D animation of a biological process can be even more informative than reading about it.
1. DNA Structure I
2. DNA Structure II (a little more technical)
3. DNA Replication
4. PCR – Polymerase Chain Reaction
5. DNA Mutation
6. Genetic Diversity
7. SNPs
8. Haplotypes
9. Mitochondrial DNA Inheritance
10. Mitochondrial Eve:
Click here to view.
The Guardian, a newspaper based in
The journalist quotes Chris Pomery, author of the up-coming book “Family History in the Genes: Trace Your DNA and Grow Your Family Tree.â€
“In specific cases, genetics is a very useful tool, but it is not a panacea,” he says. “We’re not even close to the situation where, if you’re starting to research your family history, you should begin with a DNA test. At £100 or so a throw it’s a lot of money, and you can progress your research a long way first for free.”
MITOMAP, the human mitochondrial genome database, has recently published a paper in Nucleic Acids Research (Free Full Text Here) announcing the completion of a full human mtDNA phylogenetic tree.
This tree, available here(pdf) was constructed from 2959 mtDNA coding region sequences (using the rCRS as the reference).In addition to listing mutations and the study that identified each particular sequence, the tree labels each mutation as a substitution mutation, a silent mutation, a tRNA or rRNA mutation, a mutation in the noncoding region, or a pathological mutation.MITOMAP also provides another valuable tool, tables of mtDNA polymorphisms with source information.
The tree will potentially be very useful to both researchers and genetic genealogists by providing a quick and easy way to characterize new sequences.Anyone interested in learning more about their haplogroup or how their haplogroup fits into the human mtDNA tree will find the new mtDNA phylogenetic tree extremely informative.